(Editor's note:
Today begins a 6 part series on the history of NASCAR
following the years of pre-NASCAR, it's birth, and growth
to the present day. Check back for the next 5 parts of
this story every weekend. Enjoy!)

Auto racing as
we know it today began during the 1930's
Prohibition days of the Great Depression in the
south. Whiskey and moonshine makers had to have
a way to deliver their product without getting
caught by the local authorities, and on Saturday
nights at a home made dirt track friends would
hold contest to see who was the best moonshine
"runner".

From that humble
beginning, stock car racing has grown steadily
into a multi-million dollar business, but not
without its own ups and downs.

During Prohibition, a
certain deep south beach at Daytona Beach, Florida was
being used for record speed runs, but the cars were
getting too fast for the short section of beach (Shiels,
p.1-2). Consequently all of those who attempted to break
the land speed record were forced to try elsewhere. Many
moved to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah to try their
luck. Daytona Beach, the "World Capital of Speed" now had
nothing to support it's nickname, so in 1938 the city
officials asked a man by the name of Sig Haugdahl to
promote a race on the beach.

Haugdahl set up a four
mile track comprised of two miles of beach and two miles
of Florida Highway A1A, connected by 2 U-turns. To
attract drivers, the city of Daytona Beach put up a five
thousand dollar purse. However, some city leaders
objected and hid the money and the tickets. The race was
still held, but without a prize for any of the drivers,
flopped.

One of the drivers in
that first race was an unknown man by the name of Bill
France, who finished fifth. After Haugdahl's plan race
flopped, "Big" Bill decided he wanted to try his hand at
promoting. So, in 1939, France got his chance. Stories
say that he hung up three thousand posters by hand to
announce the race. Unfortunately, ticket sales were down
for that first race because there was no fence and people
just snuck in to watch. To cure this problem, the next
year France put up a "Beware of Rattlesnakes" sign, and
the problem was solved.

The outbreak of World War
II brought a temporary halt to racing, as many of the
drivers were involved in war related jobs, and fuel and
tires were scarce. Bill France himself went to work in a
shipyard. However, after the war, racing came back as
strong, if not stronger, than ever.

In 1947, Clay Earles
built Martinsville Speedway, a one half mile dirt oval.
Martinsville Speedway, currently paved, in West Virginia,
is still in operation to this day. Bill France, now a
popular race promoter, was asked to promote this first
race at this track as well. (Hembree, p. 33-40) In a day
when many track promoters were thieves who would leave
the track in the middle of the race with the purse, Bill
France stood apart. He saw the need for a national
sanctioning body to oversee a racing series with races
held at different tracks and a National
Championship.

On December 14-17, 1947,
France called a four day meeting of twenty-two to
thirty-five promoters, mechanics, and drivers in the
Ebony Room at the Streamline Hotel in Daytona to discuss
the possibilities of a new national sanctioning body.
Among the things that Bill wanted to see were a
guaranteed purse for all races, a clearly stated set of
rules, and an elimination of arguments over rules
discrepancies. All these things and more were discussed
and it was time to pick a name for the new organization.
Many wanted to call it the National Stock Car Racing
Association (NSCRA), but that name was already taken. The
second choice was "National Association of Stock Car
Automobile Racing" (NASCAR). The attendees voted, and
NASCAR was born in February of 1948.

The first race for the
new sanctioning body was held at none other than the
Daytona Beach/Road course on February 22, 1948 (Hembree,
p. 45-47). The cars in that race ran in the Modified
class, and were mostly old 1930's cars with tweaked
motors. The first year of incorporation of NASCAR saw the
sanctioning of fifty-two races, but France still wasn't
satisfied.